Device for operating street-railway switches.



'1. 691,008. Patented Jan. l4, I902.

w. E. SCHILLING & o. m. mnawAY.

DEVICE FOR OPERATING STREET RAILWAY SWITCHES. (Application filed Apr. 25, 190,1.) (No Model.)

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Patented Jan. I4, I902. w. E. SBHILLING & 0. m. RIDGWAY.

DEVICE FOR OPERATING STREET RAILWAY SWITCHES.

(Application filed Apr. 25, 1991.)

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WILLIAM E. SCHILLING, OF LAPORTE, INDIANA, AND ORVILLE M. RIDGIVAY, OF KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI.

DEVICE FOR OPERATiNG STREET-RAlLWAY SWITCHES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 691,008, dated January 14, 1902. Application filed April 25. 1901. Serial No. 57,414. (No model.)

To (tZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, \VILLIAM E. SCHIL- LING, residing at Laporte, in the county of Laporte and State of Indiana, and ORVILLE M. RIDGWAY, residing at Kansas City, in the county of Jackson and State of Missouri, citi- Zens of the United States, have invented new and useful Improvements in Devices for Operating Street-Railway Switches, of which the IO following is a specification.

Our invention relates to devices for operating street-railway switches from the moving car; and the object of our invention is to dispense with the services of a switchman I5 and to obviate the delay caused by the car being stopped while the motorman throws the switch in the ordinary way.

Our invention comprises a vertical, rotatable, and slidable shaft mounted in the car above one of the rails, levers for rotating and depressing this shaft, a wedge-shaped shoe secured on the lower end of the shaft, and an upward projection on the movable switchrail, said projection being in the path of said shoe, so as to be thrown one way or the other,

depending upon the angle at which the shoe is presented. In order to prevent the projections on the switch-rail from raising the car-wheels, we may mount said projections in slots in the switch-rails, with springs for supporting them, so that the projections are normally up in the path of the switchingshoe; but when the tread of a wheel strikes the projection it depresses the same to the 5 level of the switch-rail, and the car will thus run smoothly over the switch.

WVe will proceed to describe our invention with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a horizontal sectional view of one corner of a car equipped with our improvement. Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view of the same, taken on the irregular line a b of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is an enlarged plan view 5 of the detachable pedal, the vertical shaft being in section. Fig. 4c is a side elevation of the pedal, a portion of the vertical shaft, and the pedal-socket, the latter in section. Fig.

5 is a broken-away plan view of a three-Way 5o switch provided with a split switch-rail,

each part of said rail holding an upwardlyprojecting block to be engaged by the shoe carried by the car. Fig. 6 is a vertical section through one of the switch-rails and its movable block, showing the means by which the block is held yieldingly within the rail. Fig. 7 is an enlarged bottom plan of the shoe. Fig. 8 is a further enlarged central vertical longitudinal section of the shoe, the shaft being broken away.

The switch-rails (shown in Figs. 5 and 6) will first be described. Fig. 5 shows an ordinary three-Way switch for one rail 1, in which 1 designates the groove for the wheel-fianges. 2, 3, and i designate the three flange-grooves converging toward groove 1'. Two ordinary switch-rails 5 and (5 are mounted pivotally at 5 and 6, respectively, and are shown as halfway between their two extreme positions. In each switch-rail 5 6 is mounted a depressible 7c block 7 or 8, as shown in Fig. 6, from which it will be seen that the block lies in a slot having its ends inclined for retaining the block, which is pressed upward by any desired number of springs 7, which may be of any pre- 15 ferred form. 1 designates the bed of the grooved rail on which the switch-rails 5 6 lie. By referring to Fig. 5 it will be seen that if the blocks 7 8 are moved apart from each other the switch-rails 5 6 will be separated, and the middle groove 3 will be connected with the groove 1. If the block 8 be moved toward the companion block 7, both switchrails will be moved together, so that they close groove 2. If block 7 be moved in the opposite direction, groove 4 will be closed by the movement of the switch-rails. The preferred means by which we efiect these movements of the switch-rails 5 and (3 are shown in Figs.

1 and 2 and further in detail in Figs. 3, 4, 7, and 8. As shown in Fig. 2, a vertical shaft 12 is mounted rotatably in an upper bracketbearing 13- and a lower bearing 14, which lower bearing is braced by rods or bars 15, of which there should be four in all, extending 5 obliquely, in the well-known manner. Secured adjustably on the lower end of shaft 12 is the switch-operating shoe 16, shaped as shown in Figs. 2 and 7 and constructed as shown in Fig. 8. Two antifriction-balls 17 are mounted in recesses in the bottom of said'shoe and are retained therein by a bottom plate I 18, which has chamfered or bevel-edged holes through which said balls project, said plate being secured to shoe 16, preferably by bolts, as 19. The function of the balls 17 is to prevent undue friction between shoe 16 and the rail when the shoe is pressed down by the motorman. The forward end or point of the bottom plate 18 is bent upward, as shown, so that the shoe may not be caught by the ends of rails or other slight obstacles. The shaft 12 extends through a hole in the lower portion of a U-shaped hanger 20, which is secured to some portion of the car-platform. This hangersupportsahelical expansion-spring 21, which in turn supports the shaft 12 by a collar 22, secured upon said shaft. After each depression of shaft 12 it is automatically raised by this spring. The preferred means fordepressing said shaft comprises a flanged collar 23, secured thereon, and a bifurcated or slotted pedal-plate 24:, having its arms straddling shaft 12 and its inner ends hooked upwardly, Fig. 4,'and engaged by a depending lip 25 of a socket-piece 25, secured to the inside of the front of the car near the platform, so that the pedal 24 is easily accessible to the foot of the motorman. Depressionof this pedal of course depresses shaft 12 and shoe 16 when the car approaches a switch. The pedal is made detachable, so that it may always be removed by the motorman when he changes his post to the opposite end of the car, and therebyprevents passengers from depressing the shaft 12. As stated heretofore, the direction in which the car is switched depends upon the angle given the shoe 16 by rotary adjustment of shaft 12. The upper end of shaft 12 is squared and extends thgough a loose-fitting square hole in the hub of a crank 26, said hub normally resting upon the bracket-bearing 13. The three positions in which crank 26 may be set for working a three-way switch are determined by three notches in the upper face of a bracket-casting 27, secured to the inner side of the front end of the car. This casting may be integral with bearing 13. When shaft 12 is depressed by pedal 24;, the upper portion of said shaft slips through the hub of lever 26, and when the shaft is raised by spring 21 it either slips upward through said hub or, if not, the crank may be lowered again by the motorman. The crank being detachable from shaft 12, it is changed from one end of the car to the other by the motorman in case each end of the car be provided with a switch-operating device.

The operation of the device has been indicated in the foregoing description. When the car approaches a switch, the motorman turns crank 26 to the proper notch in casting 27 and depresses shaft 12 with pedal 24. The shoe 16 engages a block 7 or 8 or other projection on a switch-rail, and as soon as the shoe 16 passes the switch the shaft 12 may be releasedand is lifted by the spring 21.

Having now fully described our invention, what we claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is

1. A switch-operating apparatus comprising a vertical shaft carried by a car, a switchoperating shoe, having forwardly-converging sides, secured on the lower end of said shaft, a collar secured on said shaft, a coiled spring supporting said collar, a stationary support for said spring, a slotted pedal straddling said shaft, a collar secured on said shaft beneath said pedal, a crank for rocking said shaft, and a casting having notches therein for engaginga portion of said crank, for holding said shoe at different angles; substantially as described.

2. The combination of a switch-point having a longitudinal slot therein, a spring-supported block lying within said slot and normally projecting above the switch-point, a plurality of springs for yieldingly supporting said block, and means carried by a moving car for throwing the switch-point by engaging said block, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof We affix our signatures in the presence of two witnesses.

WILLIAM E. SOHILLING. ORVILLE M. RIDGWAY. \Vitnesses:

K. M. IMBODEN, O. M. VAN DORSTON. 

